​My Mother was one of the best bakers I have ever known. Her cakes and pies were legendary. While leafing through my recipe collection today, I ran across some icing recipes in the box I got from her. They sounded so delicious that I decided to share them. My Mom always made layer cakes, but I think these would work just as well on a sheet cake. Enjoy!

Place butter in a saucepan and melt
Add milk and bring to a boil
Remove from heat and and pour into a electric mixer bowl
With mixer on medium add brown sugar and beat till dissolved and smooth
Add powdered sugar and beat till fluffy spreading consistency
​

Cream butter thoroughly with an electric mixer
Add cocoa, then alternately add the sifted sugar and the coffee until mixture is icing consistency.
After frosting the cake, chill for at least an hour or two before serving.

Put the butter into an electric mixer bowl and beat on medium while adding the powdered sugar a little at a time
Add the vanilla and beat for two minutes
Add the nutmeg and cinnamon and beat an additional 5 minute, until the icing is light and fluffy.
Ground powdered nutmeg can be used but fresh grated gives much better flavor.
​

If you need a cake to put one of these awesome icings on, check out a great recipe I shared back in 2015: How to Make a Homemade Cake Mix. The recipe in this post is great for making any flavor of cake you want. It also describes how to make the mix as a jar gift. Don't forget Mother's Day is coming and jar gifts make wonderful presents!

Have a great weekend! We will be getting our baby chicks tomorrow, so I will be sure to take lots of pictures and share with you next week!

Those are all new to me. I think I would like the brown sugar frosting. My mom used to make the Seven Minute Frosting with Egg Whites, but I was too lazy to follow suit. I hardly make anything that needs frosting anymore.

The worst thing about icing is having to clean up the beater from the mixer. I've found if you hit it with hot water right after use, you can rinse most of the frosting off, but it is still a pain to have to scrub all those ribs! Good thing homemade icing is worth it, store bought cannot hold a candle to it.

Reply

Rex Trulove

3/31/2018 01:27:26 pm

Tracey, try this: After making the icing, pour hot water in a bowl, add a small amount of dish soap, then "beat" the hot water for 30 seconds or so. The beater blades should be clean and you just need to rinse them good. Problem solved. :D

I think my mom used to make something similar to this brown sugar icing when she wanted to top a Christmas cake or plum pudding.

She always said the recipes in her cookbooks weren't quite right (not exactly like my grandmother's recipe, but close.) I wonder if this one is closer to what she wanted. I'm eager to try it and see what she thinks!